Glossier's and Rent the Runway's $1 billion valuations may be the tip of the valuable women-founded-company iceberg, with 2019 "tracking to becoming a historic year for female-founded unicorns," Natasha Mascarenhas writes. Last year saw 12 women-founded unicorns worldwide, and 2019 already has 10 -- and while many focus on businesses geared toward women, others founded by women are gender-neutral, such as ezCater and Grab.

Beauty brand Glossier has 1.9 million followers on Instagram, and its success is based on understanding its target audience and combining useful information, such as product stock updates, alongside cute animal photos, memes and other visuals that resonate, writes Phoebe Bain. The brand sticks to a distinctive color palette and develops its audience by engaging with users, she writes.

New York-based Glossier began life as a beauty blog and grew into a direct-to-consumer beauty brand that's now valued at $1.2 billion. Sales topped $100 million last year, more than double 2017 sales, according to the company, which markets itself as a casual beauty brand for "real life."

A $100 million funding round for direct-to-consumer beauty brand Glossier values the company at $1.2 billion. Glossier, led by Emily Weiss, recently launched a new makeup line and might be considering an initial public offering.